It took evolution a billion years to devise the four-letter chemical code of DNA. Now for the first time in recorded history, organisms with a new, expanded, genetic code are taking shape in the laboratory.
Researchers at the University of Aveiro in Portugal are developing DNA barcode tags that can be harmlessly applied to a wide variety of products, even foods or liquids. Each tag is a unique combination of DNA base pairs that attach to most surfaces, and can later be collected, amplified, and sequenced, to reveal the history of the object they mark.
This week, though, a talk at a DARPA-funded event brought widespread attention to a technology that promises to make DNA synthesis thousands of times cheaper, potentially offering the first real price drop in DNA synthesis.
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